Comments on: Portugal shows how the Eurozone crisis is turning the old world upside down

By: Raquel

Raquel — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 18:37:18 +0000

Isto é escrito por um bronco armado em carapau de corrida que tem a mania que que o Sul da Europa é sítio fazer uns trocos a explorar os outros. Típica mentalidade que nos trouxe como civilização ao ponto baixo onde estamos hoje.

By: Samuel Batista

Samuel Batista — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 22:13:15 +0000

I’m Portuguese and I’m working in the US. Not because of higher pay, but because there aren’t many job opportunities for a video game programmer in Portugal. I wish this wasn’t true, because I miss my homeland and a more relaxed lifestyle.

By: Paulo

Paulo — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 21:04:03 +0000

Why doesn’t everybody stay put where they are with their big salaries. I’ll keep my salary, my expresso and my relaxing walk by the beach at the end of the money. After all money is not everything. Proudly Portuguese.

By: Santiago Mendes

Santiago Mendes — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 11:32:09 +0000

Espero não ser o único a achar este elogio à qualidade portuguesa um perfeito insulto ao trabalhador português.

Don’t understand it? Translate it. Can’t be arsed to do it for you. I’m proud to be portuguese.

By: Carlos (econ)

Carlos (econ) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 09:09:07 +0000

¿Is Brazil going to do any better than Portugal, Spain or Italy? ¿What will we do when Brazil crashes? ¿Move on to Senegal? ¿And when China crashes and the world goes into recesion? ¿Will we go to the moon? ¿To mars?

Humanity needs a double dose of humility. We need more science to manage our societies. Without new science all humanity is doomed to the boom and bust cycle.

WE ARE A VIRUS. ¿WHO WILL CRASH THEIR ECONOMY NEXT?

By: paul rees

paul rees — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 06:16:14 +0000

This price business/cost of living has no easy answer.

A good guide is reading
http://algarvedailynews.com/news/6851-good-news-portugal-among-least-expensive-eu-countries

I have found that in the ten years I have lived in Portugal as an expat , that housing prices in the south have crashed 30- 60%, salaries are paltry, food is cheap if you don’t just stock up from one large supermarket, (ie shop around), the government make is close to impossible to run a business – easier to set up, yes, but to run – off putting for many business people.

Customer-facing buinesses are a non-starter due to a state regulation mechanism that is anti-business, opressive and exasperating. Many expat businessmen run their Portuguese businesses out of the UK or Holland

The earlier comment about illegal taxation of cars is an urban myth. It is not illegal and the question has been to the EC and back confirming Portugal is legally allowed to charge IVA on a total that already included car taxes.

Most young Portuguese leave for salary reasons. Most inbound workers arrive for lifestyle reasons. The concentration of web businesses around Lisbon and Oporto is unnecessary as the south offers good facilities and excellent transport links to europe.

Paul
algarvedailynews.com

By: José Pedro Pereira Coutinho

José Pedro Pereira Coutinho — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 22:13:16 +0000

This is really a cyclic question in Portugal and it lasts from 500 years till today,
We, the Portuguese, always think that outside is better and that will be the place where all our dreams came true.
What i think is that is if we can do here what we are willing to do out we will have success. Most of the time we and our companies do outside what we are not able to do in our own country.
With this i am not saying that we should not go to other countries what i say is that i believe in us and in Portugal. I believe in hard work, innovation and Portuguese people who really cares about one thing Portugal.

By: Pedro Abreu

Pedro Abreu — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:12:46 +0000

That is bad news for Portugal.
First of all, it shows what I’ve always knew: Our managers suck, and we need people from other countries to tell us what to do. (shame on you, managers)
Second, this article basically tell us that Portuguese people will be working for the rest of Europe for peanuts (1500$ for a good engineer is just a bad joke).
I am software engineer that came to London 5 months ago to earn more than 4 times more than I was earning in Portugal and right now, if I decide to go back to Portugal, I can’t even keep my old salary… The job offers are already around 20 to 30 percent bellow.

By: amachado

amachado — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:38:26 +0000

When Brazil’s bubble bursts in 2016 I will party real hard.

By: Pedro Moura [moura@wishareit.com]

Pedro Moura [moura@wishareit.com] — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 09:00:28 +0000

More and more companies (no only startups) are beginning to move / create development centers in Portugal, while maintaining business/marketing in their core countries.
This obviously comes from the combination of HR quality vs cost, geographical situation (Portugal is a natural hub between North America, Europe, South America and Africa), and all the weather, food, etc perks.
Another interesting phenomenon is foreign people coming to work in Portugal. It’s just not the salary they make vs cost of life: it’s also due to the fact that Portugal is a great place to live, both to singles and to families.
Hence, it’s really a win-win situation.

Of course we’re talking here about technology people/companies, who naturally earn more than average or minimum wage. That is another problem, which could eventually get a help by bringing more tech companies and people to Portugal. But that’s another problem.

The main challenge is for this movement to serve as a learning experience (specially in terms of management skills, as Nuno said), and as an inspiration to Portuguese-created start-up.

In my case (Wishareit), we’re a start-up originated in Portugal, aiming for the US on-line consumer market (before the end of the year), but our plan is to move the Business / Marketing there and keep the development team in Portugal (with a mix of Portuguese and foreign engineers). It just makes more sense, in economic and quality-of-life terms.

Pedro Moura [Wishareit]